1 Chronicles 15:1
And David made him houses in the city of David, and prepared a place for the ark of God, and pitched for it a tent.
The ark of the covenant was the piece of furniture where the high priest met with God. The ark was situated in the holy of holies, and the priest was given specific instructions to prepare themselves before entering the holy of holies. If these instructions were not followed, the high priest would be killed.
The verse above says about David that he prepared a place for the ark of God. One of the secrets to David’s successful prayer life was that he prepared himself to pray. David realized that He was approaching the Holy God when he prayed, and not being prepared to pray was showing disrespect to his God. It was David’s preparation that showed his heart of respect and seriousness of his prayer to prepare a place to pray to God.
One reason many do not get their prayers answered is because they are not prepared to pray. Don't get me wrong; God will listen to the spontaneous prayer, but the Scriptures are filled with illustrations about the importance of preparing your prayer before you pray. Time invested in preparing yourself to pray is never wasted time. If you want to see God do more through your prayer life, I would advise that you prepare four things before you pray.
First, have a prepared time to pray. Daniel prayed three times daily, and the Scriptures make it clear that these were set times. David said in Psalm 63:1, early will I seek thee. Isaiah said in Isaiah 26:9, I seek thee early. These clearly show that these men had prepared times to pray. I believe it is good to have a daily time that you spend with God in prayer. Setting a time aside to pray shows God that He is important to your life. I would hate to think that I set time aside for activities, daily tasks, and pleasure, but never have a time set aside each day to talk to God, the God who can help your day go much better if you would talk to Him.
Second, prepare your heart to pray. Before the high priest went into the holy of holies, he had to change his garments and wash his hands and feet before entering the sacred room. God’s Word is often symbolized by water. Ephesians 5:26 says, That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word. One of the best ways to prepare your heart to talk to God is to read His Word before you pray. One thing I do before I plan to spend any time with God in prayer is to spend a short time reading His Word so I can prepare my heart to pray.
Third, prepare a place to pray. Matthew 6:6 says, But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet,… God is showing the importance of having a place where you regularly pray. Having a place to pray has a way of preparing you as you go to God. The ark of the covenant was in the holy of holies, which was a set place to meet with God. Have a set place where you pray, and you will find your prayer time will be more sacred.
Fourth, prepare your prayer to pray. As the lawyer prepares his argument that he will present to the court, so the believer should prepare their prayer that they will present to God. Have a list of things you are going to present to God and have your reasons ready to argue those requests; this is a great way to get prayers answered.